U.S. patent number 7,853,457 [Application Number 11/914,950] was granted by the patent office on 2010-12-14 for automatic identification for spot measurements.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.. Invention is credited to Heribert Baldus, Karin Klabunde.
United States Patent |
7,853,457 |
Klabunde , et al. |
December 14, 2010 |
Automatic identification for spot measurements
Abstract
A patient monitoring system (8) monitors physiological functions
of a plurality of patients (12). Each clinician (10) and each
patient (12) has an associated identification device (20, 22),
which each includes an identification code corresponding to
respective clinician and patient. Each identification device (20,
22) includes a respective body-coupled communication device (24,
26) for communicating the identification code to a medical device
(14). The clinician (10) activates the medical device (14) which
includes a body-coupled communication device (40) including an ID
reader (42). The ID reader (42) scans the area to detect whether
the clinician identification is present. After the clinician's
identification code is read, the medical device (14) is ready to
take measurements. The clinician (10) takes the medical device (14)
to the patient (12). The ID reader (42) scans the area to detect
the patient identification code. The result of the measurement
along with the patient identification code is stored in a medical
device memory (56) and later transferred to a patient record in a
hospital database (70).
Inventors: |
Klabunde; Karin (Aachen,
DE), Baldus; Heribert (Aachen, DE) |
Assignee: |
Koninklijke Philips Electronics
N.V. (Eindhoven, NL)
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Family
ID: |
36754510 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/914,950 |
Filed: |
May 1, 2006 |
PCT
Filed: |
May 01, 2006 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/IB2006/051356 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
November 20, 2007 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2006/126107 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
November 30, 2006 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20080162185 A1 |
Jul 3, 2008 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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60683871 |
May 24, 2005 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/2; 600/300;
705/3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G16H
20/30 (20180101); G16H 40/63 (20180101); A61B
5/0002 (20130101); G16H 10/65 (20180101); G16H
40/20 (20180101); G16H 10/60 (20180101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06Q
10/00 (20060101); A61B 5/00 (20060101); G06F
19/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;705/2-4 ;600/300
;345/156 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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0770349 |
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May 1997 |
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EP |
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2346217 |
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Aug 2000 |
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GB |
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9316636 |
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Sep 1993 |
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WO |
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0241237 |
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May 2002 |
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WO |
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2005006970 |
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Jan 2005 |
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WO |
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2005009231 |
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Feb 2005 |
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WO |
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Other References
Zimmerman, T. G.; Personal Area Networks (PAN): Near-Field
Intra-Body Communication; 1995; Masters Dissertation for
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 81 pages. cited by
other.
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Primary Examiner: O'Connor; Gerald J.
Assistant Examiner: Burgess; Joseph D.
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application
Ser. No. 60/683,871 filed May 24, 2005, which is incorporated
herein by reference.
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A patient monitoring system for monitoring physiological
functions of each of a plurality of patients, the system
comprising: a plurality of identification devices, each associated
with one of a corresponding one of a plurality of patients
including: an electronic identification code memory which stores a
patient identification code which identifies the corresponding to
one of the patients, and a patient body-coupled communication
device capacitively coupled with the corresponding patient which
communicates the identification code via near field communications;
and a medical device including: a sensor which spot measures a
physiological function of each of a plurality of patients; a
medical device body-coupled communication device which capacitively
couples with each patient during spot measuring and automatically
reads the respective patient identification codes via near field
communications and automatically associates physiological function
measurements with the patient identification code of the
corresponding patient; and a memory which stores the associated
physiological functional measurements and patient identification
codes.
2. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including: a
clinician identification device including: an electronic clinician
identification code memory which stores a clinician identification
code, and a clinician body-coupled communication device which
capacitively couples to a clinician using the medical device to
communicate the clinician identification code to the medical device
using the near field communications; and wherein the medical device
body coupled communication device automatically associates the
clinician identification code of the clinician who uses the medical
device with the corresponding generated physiological function
measurement and patient identification code.
3. The system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the medical device
further includes: a medical device activator which triggers the
clinician body-coupled communication device to transmit the
electronic clinician identification code.
4. The system as set forth in claim 2, further including: a
measurement activator which activates the medical device in
response to receiving the electronic clinician identification code
using the near field communication and triggers the patient
body-coupled communication device to transmit the electronic
patient identification code using the near field
communications.
5. The system as set forth in claim 4, further including: a
hospital database which downloads the physiological function
measurements along with the respective patient identification code
and clinician identification code from the medical device
memory.
6. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including: a
clinician identification device including: an electronic clinician
identification code memory which stores a clinician identification
code, and a clinician body-coupled communication device which
capacitively couples to the clinician and communicates the
clinician identification code via near field communications; and
wherein the clinician identification device communicates via
near-field communications with the medical device when the
clinician is capacitively coupled with the medical device and the
patient identification device communicates via near-field
communications with the medical device when the patient is
capacitively coupled with the medical device.
7. The system as set forth in claim 6, further including: a
hospital database which downloads measurements along with the
respective patient and clinician identification codes from the
medical device memory.
8. A method for monitoring a plurality of patients, comprising:
capacitively coupling patient wireless identification devices to
each of a plurality of patients, each patient identification device
communicating via near field communications and being encoded with
an electronic patient identification code that uniquely identifies
the patient and communicates the patient identification code via
near field body coupled communications; capacitively coupling
clinician wireless identification devices to each of a plurality of
clinicians, each clinician identification device communicating via
near field communications and being encoded with an electronic
clinician identification code that uniquely identifies the
clinician and communicates the clinician identification code via
the near field body coupled communications; capacitively coupling
the clinician with a medical monitoring device and communicating
the clinician identification code using a medical device to the
medical monitoring device via near field communications;
capacitively coupling the medical monitoring device with each one
of the patients, communicating the patient identification code of
each patient to which the medical monitoring device is capacitively
coupled via the body coupling communications and spot measuring a
physiological function of each patient with the medical device;
automatically communicating the patient identification code of each
patient wireless identification device to the medical monitor via
the near field communications in conjunction with the spot
measuring of each patient and associating each patient
identification code with the spot measurement of the corresponding
patient; storing the spot measurements and the patient and
clinician identification codes in a measurement memory in the
medical monitoring device; and downloading the stored spot
measurements and identifications codes to a database.
9. The method as set forth in claim 8, further including:
triggering a transmission of the electronic clinician
identification code to the medical monitoring device via the near
field communications.
10. The method as set forth in claim 8, further including:
assigning wireless patient identification devices to the selected
patients, the electronic patient identification code of each
patient identification device being encoded to uniquely identify
the selected patient which it is assigned to.
11. The method as set forth in claim 10, further including: in
response to receiving the electronic clinician identification code,
activating the medical monitoring device; and triggering a
transmission of the electronic patient identification code to the
medical monitoring device via the near field communication.
12. The method as set forth in claim 11, further including:
transferring the results of measurements along with the respective
clinician and patient identification codes from the medical
monitoring device into a hospital database.
13. A patient monitoring system for monitoring physiological
functions of each of a plurality of patients, the system
comprising: a clinician identification device including: an
electronic clinician identification code memory which stores the
clinician identification code, and a clinician body-coupled
communication device which communicates the clinician
identification code of a clinician to whom it is capacitively
coupled via near field communications; a patient identification
device including: an electronic patient identification code memory
which stores a patient identification code, and a patient
body-coupled communication device which communicates the patient
identification code of a patient with whom it is capacitively
coupled via body coupled communications; and a medical device
including: a medical device body-coupled communication device which
automatically receives respective communicated identification codes
via body coupled communications from a clinician or patient to whom
it is capacitively coupled; a sensor which spot measures a
physiological function of each of a plurality of patients; a memory
which stores results of spot measurements measured by the sensor in
conjunction with the patient identification code corresponding to
each spot measurement and the clinician code of the clinician that
used the medical device to make each spot measurement; and a
communication interface which transfers the stored sport
measurements, the stored patient identification codes, and the
stored clinician identification codes to a hospital database.
14. A spot measurement device for measuring a physiological
function of a plurality of patients, the device comprising: a
sensor which measures at least one physiological function of a
patient; a body-coupled communication device which automatically
electronically receives a patient identification code from the
patient via near field communications contemporaneously with
measuring the physiological function of a patient with whom it is
capacitively coupled; and a memory which stores data indicative of
the measured physiological function associated with the
contemporaneously received patient identification code.
15. The device as set forth in claim 14, wherein the body-coupled
communication device further retrieves a clinician identification
code via near field communication which identifies a clinician
capacitively coupled to and operating the measurement device to
measure the physiological function.
16. The device as set forth in claim 14, further including: a
timestamp which is attached to the measurement and indicative of at
least a time at which an associated measurement is taken; a medical
device identification code which is stored in a medical device
identification code memory; and wherein the stored data includes
the timestamps associated with each measured physiological function
and the medical device identification code withdrawn from the
medical device identification code memory.
Description
The following relates to medical monitoring arts. It finds
particular application in relation to spot measurements in
hospitals and will be described with particular reference thereto.
However, it is to be appreciated that the invention will also find
application in conjunction with patient monitoring in retirement
communities, assisted living, at home, and the like.
In health care facilities, especially in the hospitals, clinicians
take vital sign spot measurements of a large number of patients,
typically, several times a day during regular rounds of a ward. For
example, the clinicians may take patient's temperature, blood
pressure, and the like. Typically, the clinician comes to the
patient, attaches or links the measurement device or sensor and
starts the measurement. The result of the measurement is manually
recorded in a paper based record. In due course, the result of each
manual measurement is manually entered into the corresponding
patient record of the hospital information system. Typically, the
recordation is done by medical professionals upon returning, for
example, to the nurse station, e.g. the result is entered into the
patient's record which is selected manually via computer keyboard
or other means. The double manual recordation of spot measurements
is time-consuming and raises the risk of the human error.
Another problem arises in conjunction with the patient
identification. In current hospital solutions, usually an extra
action is required to select the correct patient. Typically, the
clinician manually selects the paper record of the correct patient,
and later on selects correct electronic record when transferring
measurement results into the database. In systems with the mobile
data collection including a PDA or Laptop, the clinician selects
correct patient from the electronic list on PDA/Laptop or scans
barcode/RFID tag worn by patient with extra reader. Such procedures
are time-consuming and might result in assigning measurement
results to wrong patients.
The following contemplates improved apparatuses and methods that
overcome the aforementioned limitations and others.
According to one aspect, a patient monitoring system for monitoring
physiological functions of each of a plurality of patients is
disclosed. A plurality of identification devices, each associated
with one of a patient or a clinician, includes an electronic
identification code memory for storing an identification code
corresponding to one of the patient or the clinician, and
body-coupled communication device for communicating the
identification code. A medical device includes medical device
body-coupled communication device for reading respective
communicated identification codes and automatically associating the
medical device with the identification codes. A sensor measures a
physiological function of each of a plurality of patients. A memory
stores results of the measurements and the identification
codes.
According to another aspect, a method for monitoring a plurality of
patients is disclosed. Wireless identification devices are assigned
to one of a patient or a clinician. Each identification device is
encoded with an electronic identification code that uniquely
identifies one of the patient or clinician. The wireless
identification devices automatically associate to a medical device
which is linked to the patients. A physiological function of each
of the patients is spot measured. The measurements and the
identification codes are stored in a measurement memory.
One advantage resides in automatic and unambiguous association of
the measurements with the patient and the clinician.
Another advantage resides in automatic transfer of the measurement
data into the patient record.
Another advantage resides in use control of the measurement
devices.
Another advantage resides in reduced recordation errors.
Numerous additional advantages and benefits will become apparent to
those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following
detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
The invention may take form in various components and arrangements
of components, and in various process operations and arrangements
of process operations. The drawings are only for the purpose of
illustrating preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as
limiting the invention.
FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows a medical environment employing an
automatic identification system for spot measurement devices;
FIG. 2 shows a portion of a process flow of the identification
system; and
FIG. 3 shows another portion of a process flow of the
identification system.
With reference to FIG. 1, in a patient monitoring system 8, an
authorized medical person or clinician 10 takes spot measurements,
such as temperature, blood pressure and the like, from one or more
patients 12 using a measurement unit or medical device 14 which
includes a medical probe. The clinician 10 and each patient 12 wear
respective clinician's and patient's active identification devices
20, 22 which communicate via body-coupled communication (BCC) with
the measurement unit. The clinician's identification device 20
includes at least a unique clinician's identifier (ID) while the
patient's identification device 22 includes at least a unique
patient's identifier (ID). Such unique identifiers allow relating
the measurement results to the specific patient and clinician. Of
course, it is also contemplated that more information can be stored
in the patient's identification device, for example, name,
anamnesis, diagnosis, therapy and the like.
Each identification device 20, 22 is attached to the respective
clinician 10 and patient 12 or clinician's and patient's bodies as,
wrist or leg bands, badges, implants or the like. Alternatively,
the identification device 20, 22 is a non-contact device and is
attached in a close proximity, e.g. about 10 cm or so, of the
clinician's or the patient's body. Such identification devices do
not need skin contact and can be worn in the shirt pocket.
Each identification device 20, 22 includes a respective
body-coupled communication unit or BCU 24, 26. The body-coupled
communication unit 24, 26 utilizes a near-field body-communication
technology, which is based on capacitive coupling and well known in
the art, to transmit the patient's or the clinician's ID. Other
communications technologies which have properties similar to the
body-communication technology can also be used. The medical
measurement unit 14 includes a communication unit 40 including an
integrated ID reader 42 to request and read the transmitted
patient's and/or clinician's ID, via BCC communication. The ID
reader 42 is an intelligent device which is capable of
distinguishing between the clinician's ID and the patient's ID.
Typically, the clinician 10 activates the medical measurement
device 14 by an activating means such as a switch, a pushbutton or
PB1 46, or other devices commonly used to turn electrical devices
on and off. It is also contemplated that the ID reader 42 can be
activated when the clinician 10 takes the medical measurement unit
14 in his hand or touches the measurement unit 14. The activating
means 46 triggers the ID reader 42 which starts looking for active
identification devices such as the clinician's identification
device 20. The clinician's ID is withdrawn from a clinician's ID
memory 48 and transmitted to the medical device 14 by a sender 50
which is integrated with the clinician's BCU 24. If the ID reader
42 receives and reads the clinician's ID, it completes the
activation of the measurement device 14, which is now ready to take
measurements of one or more vital parameters, e.g. SPO2,
temperature, blood pressure. The clinician 10 starts a round of the
ward and takes the measurement unit 14 to one or more patients.
The measurement unit 14 includes a processing unit or CPU 52, a
sensor 54, and a measurement memory 56. Upon completion of the
measurement unit activation, the ID reader 42 starts looking for an
active identification device of the patient 12. When the
measurement unit is touching or proximate to a patient, the
patient's ID is withdrawn from a patient's ID memory 60 and
transmitted to the medical device 14 by a sender 62 which is
integrated with the patient's BCU 22. Upon receiving of the
patient's ID by the ID reader 42, the measurement unit 14 takes the
measurement via the sensor 54 and, in one embodiment, attaches a
time stamp to the measurement. Of course, the measurement can be
taken and the ID read in either order. The result of the
measurement is stored in the measurement memory 56. The record at
least includes the patient's ID, the clinician's ID, and the
measured value. In one embodiment, the record includes other
parameters such as day, time, type of the measurement device used,
and other. If required, more measurements for other patients are
performed. After finishing the ward round, the clinician 10 returns
to a data input area, such as a nurse station, and transfers the
data to a patient record in a hospital database 70. For a
transmission of the measurement data from the measurement unit to
the hospital database, the measurements unit includes an auxiliary
communication interface 72 which can include a wired or wireless
communications link by using Bluetooth, ZigBee, WLAN, and the like.
E.g., the transfer of the collected data from the medical
measurement unit 14 to the hospital database 70 can be done via
cable, docking station 74, or wirelessly via transmitting/receiving
link 76, 78.
With continuing reference to FIG. 1 and further reference to FIG.
2, a measurement device activation routine 100 is triggered by the
clinician 10. Prior to triggering the measurement device activation
routine 100, the clinician's identification device 20 is in an idle
state and waits 102 for a request to transmit the clinician's ID.
The measurement device 14 is triggered 110. The ID reader 42 starts
looking 112 for the clinician's ID by pattern designed to
distinguish or only detect clinician's ID. At the same time, a
timer is started 114. The request for transmission of the
clinician's ID code is received 120 by the clinician's BCU 20. The
ID request is processed 122 and a response is prepared 124. The
clinician's ID is withdrawn from the clinician's ID memory 48 and
transmitted 126 to the measurement device 14. The ID reader 42
waits 130 for reception during the prespecified time T, e.g. ID
timeout 132 such as 15 sec. In one embodiment, the system is
configured to continue requesting the clinician ID several times
(if the request was not yet successful). A number of retries is a
parameter which is configured in advance for the measurement unit
14. If the clinician's ID code is received 140 within a
prespecified time interval T, the activation of the measurement
device is finished 142. The measurement device 14 is ready to be
taken to the patient 12 for measurements. If no clinician's ID code
is received 150 during the T period, an alarm "no clinician ID" is
raised 152 and activation of the measurement unit is terminated
154. In this manner, no other person than an authorized clinician
can use the system when there is no clinician's ID.
With continuing reference to FIG. 1 and further reference to FIG.
3, a spot measurement routine 200 is initiated by the clinician 10
via a measurement activator 202 such as a second push button. Prior
to the initiation of the spot measurement routine 200, the
patient's BCU 22 is in an idle state and waits 204 for the request
to transmit the patient's ID. The spot measurement is initiated
210. The measurement device 14 starts looking 212 for the patient's
ID. At the same time, a timer is started 214. The request for
transmission of the patient's ID is received 220 by the patient's
BCU 26. The ID request is processed 222 and a response is prepared
224. The patient's ID code is withdrawn from the patient's ID
memory 60 and transmitted 226 to the measurement device 14. The ID
reader 42 waits 230 for reception during the prespecified time T,
e.g. ID timeout 232 such as 15 sec. If no patient's ID code is
received 234 during the T period, an alarm "no patient ID" is
raised 236. The clinician can take corresponding steps such as
retry the patient identification, check whether the patient wears
the identification device, manually enter the name of the patient,
and take other appropriate steps. If the patient's ID code is
received 240 within a prespecified time interval T, the
measurements are performed 242. The result of the measurements is
prepared 244 and stored 246 in the measurement memory 56. The spot
measurement device 14 is moved 248 to other patients. The ID reader
42 reads one patient ID after another in the manner described
above, the clinician 10 takes measurements one patient after
another, and the measurements of each patient are stored in the
measurement memory 56. After the ward round is finished 250, all
measurements are transferred 252 to the hospital database 70.
While the clinician 10 makes the ward round from one patient to the
next, the measurement unit 14 regularly checks, e.g. with
prespecified time interval such as 1 min, whether the clinician is
still present to make sure that no unauthorized person uses the
measurement device 14. The measurement device performs the check in
the manner described above, by requesting and reading the
clinician's ID. If no clinician ID is detected, the measurement
unit 14 can change into an inactive state.
Instead of a single measurement, a series of measurements for the
same patient 12 can be performed. The measurement device 14 is
attached to the patient 12 for a longer period of time, e.g. 10
minutes, as may be appropriate to the measurements made. The
measurement device 14 is then transferred to the next patient.
After all measurements are performed, the measurement data is
transferred to the hospital database 70. In one embodiment, the
measurements are performed during certain time intervals and stored
in the measurement memory 56. The clinician 10 comes at certain
time internals with an auxiliary device to read the patient ID and
download corresponding measurement data into the auxiliary device.
(This transfer could also be done via body-coupled communication.)
The measurement data is transferred from the auxiliary device to
the hospital database 70.
In one embodiment, the clinician 10 takes patient's measurements
with several measurement devices 14 each of which includes a
corresponding BCU with an ID reader. The measurement devices 14
cooperate to ensure that a correct ID of the authorized clinician
and a correct ID of the patient are read. The measurement devices
14 perform measurements and record the measurement data along with
the patient's and the clinician's ID, and optionally the date and
time of the measurement, into corresponding measurement memory
portion of each measurement device. The clinician 10 comes at
certain time internals with an auxiliary device to read each
patient's ID and download corresponding measurement data from the
measurement devices into the auxiliary device. The measurement data
is transferred from the auxiliary device to the hospital database
70, and, optionally, the identifier of the measurement device
including its type and serial number or other device specific
identification.
Alternatively, a master measurement device is configured to collect
the data from the measurement devices. The measurement devices send
the measurement data to the master measurement device. In this
case, the clinician collects all data from the master measurement
device into the auxiliary device.
Optionally, a security mechanism based on secret keys and a
challenge-response protocol protects the information sent between
the clinician's and patient's identification devices 20, 22 and the
ID reader 42.
The invention has been described with reference to the preferred
embodiments. Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to
others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed
description. It is intended that the invention be construed as
including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they
come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents
thereof.
* * * * *